August 01, 2006

I'll bet ya fidel didn't have to pay for his

During my lunch hour yesterday I visited a friend of my elderly mom's whom she said needed some of my computer expertise. I went to his house and uncovered a spyware program that had been installed on his computer that would unfortunately pop-up a rather explicit pornographic image visible to all in the house. He had not turned on his computer for days because he was extremely emabarrassed that this was on his PC. He explained that he was a little desperate to fix the problem since he had not been able to reach his brother by email in Cuba who had had cancer surgery recently. He went on to explain -- and I kid you not this is what he said -- that he had to send money to his brother so that he could pay for the anesthesia for his next scheduled surgery! According to him, they had given his brother chispa de tren (translation: 'train sparks,' a very strong Cuban moonshine) to partially dull his senses for the first surgery since there was no anesthetic in the hospital and the only way to get it was to pay for it on the black market! This guy has zero reasons to lie to me. He is a good friend to my mom and I know him well enough to know that he is not a bullshit artist and that he is desperately concerned about his relatives on the island.

So we are left with a truly unbelievable story that we in the Cuban exile community understand and everyone else will dismiss as fiction. This is the vaunted and highly-touted health-care system that the evil enablers of this regime spew about on a daily basis. This is the system that Cubans on the island have to live with. This, my friends, is fidel castro's legacy.

My most fervent hope is that fidel went to the same hospital for his surgery and that they had just run out of chispa de tren and anesthetic. Even that may be too good for him.

Posted by George Moneo at August 1, 2006 11:18 AM

Comments

George,

This is a fact of life for many Cubans on the Island. I know of several people that have family in Cuba that needed surgery and they had to sent via the Red Cross not only the anesthesia for a surgery, but also the tape, gauze, surgical instruments, alcohol, bed sheets, surgical gloves, masks etc. etc. etc.

Posted by: Firefly [TypeKey Profile Page] at August 1, 2006 12:14 PM

I hope your friend can send his brother enough to buy some antiseptic soap so the surgeon can wash up before the operation. Marxist thought stinks on ice, and soon, so will fidel. If the ice machine is working.

Posted by: PTG [TypeKey Profile Page] at August 1, 2006 12:37 PM

Here's hoping when fidel checked in, the last chispa was out and the tren ran over him instead.

Posted by: miamigirl [TypeKey Profile Page] at August 1, 2006 12:43 PM

This is not surprising to me, nor is it new. I had a little cousin back in the 1960's [at the time that Castro and his cronies in the American media used to breathlessly brag about Cuba's "stellar" medical establishment and at a time when there was allegedly no shortages] and he had to have stitches on his leg. He fell on some broken glass that cut him badly. When they took him to the hospital, they sewed him up in cold blood because there was no anesthesia at the time. My aunt who was on the first floor lobby told us that you could hear his screams all the way from the third floor!

Posted by: Ray [TypeKey Profile Page] at August 1, 2006 12:56 PM

Uw online verzekeringsmakelaar Eerst Europa Doelstellingen: De Ci2i Verzekering (Ci2i) zal het nummer een gebrandmerkte pan Europese commoditized online verzekeringsmakelaar door 2010 zijn.

Posted by: pooja rautela [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 27, 2006 01:35 AM


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